Filing appliance.



E. N.' AIKEN.

FILING APPLIANCE. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 8,1915. RENEWED SEPT. Il. ly9I6. 1,298,150, Patented Mar. 25, 1919.

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' STATS PAT-ENT FFICE.

EBENEZER N. AIKEN, OF AVALON,.PENNSYLVANIA, -ASSIGNOR TO TI-IElVIcCASKEY REGISTER COMPANY, 0F ALLIANCE, OHIO, 'A CORPORATION OIE OHIO. y

FILING APPLIANCE.

Application led October 8,1915, Serial No. 54,745.

To all whom z'tmay concer/n:

Be it kno-wn that I, EBnNEznR N. AIKEN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Avalon, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Filing Appliances, of `which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a filing appliance for sales bills used in the duplicating, forwarding, one Iwriting system of keeping credit accounts; and the object of the invention is to provide code devices for indicating but not stating the amount or time of credit which may be extended to a particuvlar customer, without interfering with a free and ready' inspection of the details of the account current.

Filing appliances of this kind are fre- Iquently made with a series of normally upright holding lleaves or frames hinged together at `their lower ends and mounted in a suitable case so that the holders can be singly or collectively swung forward on their hinged ends into reclined position.

Such holders are usually provided on each side with a series of longitudinal ribs or portions forming a series of pockets in which sales/bills maybe filed; and each pocket -is usually provided with one or more spring clips or clamps behind which a pack of sales bills may be entered and retained.

These bill clamps are frequently made of spring wire bent to form two lateral sides or legs yoked together` at the top and having laterally extending spring'coils formed on the lowerl ends, the outer ends of such coils being secured' to the back' or wall of the bill holding frame; and-iinally, the sides or legs of the bill clamps are frequently secured together and' strengthened, intermediate their ends, by a connecting plate, upon which plate is mounted orv displayed a number orother character indexing or disignating the `name of the particular customer whose sales'bills are intended to be led behind the bill clamp carrying this number. The-object of the present invention is attained by providing .a signaling device adapted lto be readily -applied to the bill clamp at or near the index plate; such signaling device being `provided on its face with a suitable code color or other insignia `to indicate without stating. the amount of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 25, 1919.

RenewedSeptember 11, 1916. Serial No. 119,599.

credit intended to ybe extended to the customer whose index numberappears on the connecting plate on the bill clamp to which the signaling vdevice is applied.

A preferred embodiment of the invention, thus set forth `in general terms, is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming parthereof, Ain `which-- Figure l is a fragmentary ,perspective View of a lfiling appliance yshowing the relative location-and arrangement of the case and the bill holders therein;

Fig. 2, a face view of one of `-the billholding frames; and

Fig. 3, a detached perspective view showing fragmentary parts ofthe sides or legs of a bill clamp with the connecting plate applied thereto, and a signal device in position for having its stem inserted within the socket formed by the danges rof the plate.

Similar numerals refer to lsimilar parts throughout the drawings.

The filing appliance includes the case 1 having an indext'able Quformed therein' and a series of bill holding frames 3 pivotally mounted therein; each bill holding vframe being provided with suitable longitudinal ribs 4: at the side edges and 4 intermediate thereof, and with the hinge bars 5 and 4rim bars 5, all of which form the recessesv 6 in which sales bills are adapted to be filed.

The bill clamps 7 may be made of spring wire with the legs 8 on each side connected together by the yoke 9 at the upper free end and' secured to the back or Wall 10 of the bill holding'frame by means of the fingers 11` on the outer ends of the laterally extending spring coils 12 formed on the lower ends of the legs.

In the preferred form of bill clamp a connecting plate 13 is providedintermcdiate the ends of. the clamp, usually in the middle portion thereof, which'plate may be secured to the legs of the clamp by hav-ingits ends bent and 4looped around` the wire of the legs, yas shown at 14 in Fig. 3, these bends being made in such a ymanner astosrigidly secure the parts together for the purpose of strengthening the billclamp Aand -holding its legs and their connecting yoke in the-same plane. f

In the embodiment of the present-invention, illustrated in the drawings, the signal .amount of credit to be device 15 is made of a plate or sheet of metal, or other stili' material, having a relatively narrow lower end or shank 16 and a wider upper display portion 17, the side edges 18 of which may be inclined upward and outward and the top edge 19 of which may be curved or crowned, as may be desired.

When made in this form, the signal device is adapted to have its lower end or shank inserted between the legs of the bill clamp in the socket formed behind the body 0I" the connecting plate by the bent ends thereof extending around the legs of the clamp, so that the enlarged upper display portion of the signal device will appear immediately above more particularly in Fig. 2.

he exposed face of the several signal devices are finished orprovided with different code colors, or other distinguishing features, for imparting particular information, as for instance, the device at A in Fig. i

2, Vmay be finished in red, to indicate a credit limit of $25.00; the device shown at B may be finished in blue, to indicate a credit limit of $10.00; the device at C may loc/finished in yellow, to indicate a credit limit 'of $15.00; and the device at D may be inished in black, to indicate a credit limit of $30.00;

in each case indicating to the clerk that the 'Th account of the customer whose bills are led behind Vthe particular bill clamp, has reached or exceeded the amount of credit intended to be extended.

The exposed face of the signal device can also be provided with code characters to designate a time Vlimit for credits; as for instance the letter X may be used to indicate that the'account is tobe settled weekly,

kthe letterY may be used to indicate that 'the accountis to be settled bi-weekly or semi-monthly, and the letter Z may be used to indicate that the account is to be settled monthly, irrespective of the amount of the account at the end of the stated period; it being evident that an amount limit of credit and a time limit of credit can be designated either jointly or severally on signal devices, as may be desired.

When a customer begins trading with the merchant upon a credit basis,

will select a signal device having or other designation dicates such the parwhich incredit limit, and will apply bill clamp which ol: the customer chance by reason of his-.varying fortunes,

" his credit limit is either' reduced or increased, Vwhereupon original signal de- Y the index plate, as shown vice is replaced by another one properly indicating the new credit limit.

By these means it is evident that the merchant does not need to keep any additional record or list of the varying amounts of different customers,

previous instructions or further inquiry,V

just what amount of credit may be extended to that particular customer.

It is evident that by locating the credit limit signal device in proximity to the in dex number, which in turn is located centrally on the bill clamp, these signals are located near the middle of the sales bill which is filed behind the clamp, and are usually so near to the showing the total amountV of` the account, that the index number, the credit limit signal and the total amount all be seen with a single glance of the eye. is arrangement greatly reduces thetime and eiiort required to obtain and cordinate these several items of information, and reduces to a minimum the possibility of error in connection with the account, or in extending credit beyond the amount or time limit. l

Filing appliances of this character are widely used in general stores, in manufacturing and mining communities, wherein the workmen are mostly wage earners receiving' of his several customers within predetermined limits. Y

The present invention is/well adaptedto accomplish this vpurpose automatically-after the account is started, without any personal attention or instructions beingV given by the merchant. or any special investigation or inquiry being made by theclerk.

I claim:

1. A filing appliance including a bill holder, a bill clamp havin an index number thereon, and a code device designating a credit limit on the bill clamp in proximity to the index number.

2. A filing appliance including a bill holder, a 'bill clamp figures on the bill` having a centrally 1o-V of the account can cated index number thereon, and a device designating a credit limit on the bill clamp in proximity to the index number.

3. A filing appliance including a bill holder, a series of bill clamps having index numbers thereon, and a device designating a credit limit adapted to be applied to any one of the bill clamps in proximity to the index number thereon.

4L. A filing appliance, including a bill holder, a bill clamp made of spring wire with an index plate connecting the sides of the clamp intermediate the ends thereof, and a device designating a credit limit detachably engaged with the connecting plate.

5. A filing appliance including a bill holder, a bill clamp made of spring Wire with a connecting plate having its ends bent around the Wire sides of the clamp, and a Y device designating a credit limit havin@ a stem adapted to e secured in the sodlret formed by the bent ends of the connecting plate.

6. A tiling appliance including a bill holder, a bill clamp made of spring Wire with a connecting plate having its ends bent around the Wire sides of the clamp, and a Copies of this patent may. be obtained for ve cents each,

signal device having a stem adapted to be secured in the socket formed by the bent ends of the connecting plate.

7. A filing appliance, including a bill holder, a bill clamp made of spring Wire with an index plate connecting the sides of the clamp intermediate the ends thereof, and a signal device detachably engaged with the connecting plate.

8. A tiling appliance including a bill holder, a series of bill clamps having index numbers thereon, and a signal device adapted to be applied to any one of the bill clamps in proximity to the index number thereon.

9. A tiling appliance including a bill holder, a bill clamp having a centrally located index number thereon, and a signal device on the bill lamp in proximity to the index number.

10. A filing appliance including a bill having an index numdevice on the bill index number. N. AIKEN.

holder, a bill clamp ber thereon, and a signal clamp in proximity to the EBENEZER Witnesses:

EDITH A. Bowne, A. C. WAY.

by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. c. 

